Galaxy S4: Samsung launches new smartphone that takes the fight to Apple

Samsung's long-awaited new phone finally launched in New York last night, with
the South Korean giant looking to capitalise on Apple's recent woes with a
device that is expected to pose the greatest threat yet to the iPhone.

Earlier in the day Apple had launched a stinging attack on Samsung, criticising it for using Google's Android operating system and claiming that Google's market was fragmented by a huge range of devices and a number of different versions of the OS.

The rare attack was aimed both atSamsungand Google, which developed the Android software that has helped fuel the growing popularity of Samsung phones.

The new Galaxy S4 features a touchscreen that detects when a user's finger is hovering over the screen to display additional preview information, as well as technology that automatically pauses videos if a user looks away from the screen.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 (left) next to Apple's iPhone 5

It also includes new features that monitor a user's well-being. Accessories for the phone will include scales and a heart-rate monitor from Samsung as well as a blood pressure and blood sugar monitor from other companies.

The S4 goes on sale in April and will also feature a significantly upgraded camera which features 13MP resolution and can take pictures or record simultaneously from both its front and rear. The company has also signed a deal with photo-printing service Blurb to enable users to quickly order printed albums of pictures.

(Getty)

Although the S4 is an improvement on its predecessor, the Galaxy S3, rather than a total reinvention, it also features a faster, eight-core processor for some markets and a substantially larger battery in a package that is overall slightly smaller than the previous model. A 5in screen is included, offering a market-leading pixels-per-inch.

The Galaxy S4 was launched at New York's Radio City Music Hall

Mobile phone operators described the interest in the phone from consumers and businesses as reaching “fever pitch levels”. Paul Jevons, director of products and devices at EE, said: “This is a significant launch for the UK mobile industry, because it marks a new generation of super-smartphones built for 4G.”

Samsung hopes that the overall S4 package will appeal to consumers, rather than a single stand-out feature. The company has integrated its various chat services into a single app that now includes video calling, and combined its various music, film and gaming services into a single Samsung Hub.

A Samsung spokesman said that the device’s new features “are all iterations, taking innovations that we’ve done to the next level”. He emphasised that the company would work with app developers such as Flipboard and TripAdvisor to make sure that apps were tailored specifically for Samsung devices.

(Bloomberg)

Analysts at Kantar World Panel Comtech said that Samsung was likely to build on the popularity among its existing users, more than two-thirds of whom said they expected to buy another Samsung device.

Samsung’s S3, the most popular phone of 2012, has sold more than 40m handsets worldwide.